Good afternoon to members of the committee. I hope you all had good weeks in your constituency.
Welcome to the 34th meeting of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. We are meeting today pursuant to the order of reference of Friday, May 8, 2009, to study C-27, An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities, and to amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act.
Welcome to our three groups of witnesses on our first panel, which will meet until 5 p.m. We have Mr. Yves Morency, vice-president, government relations; Mr. Bernard Brun, senior counsel, commerce and technology, Desjardins sécurité financière; and Yvan-Pierre Grimard, government relations adviser. All three are with Mouvement des caisses Desjardins.
We also have with us today Mr. Frank Zinatelli, vice-president of legal services and associate general counsel; and Mr. Peter Goldthorpe, general director of marketplace regulations issues. Both are with the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc.
Finally, in our third group of witnesses on our first panel we have Ms. Joanne De Laurentiis, president and chief executive officer; and Mr. Paul Vaillancourt, independent financial adviser. They are with the Independent Funds Institute of Canada.
Welcome to all three groups. We will begin with the Mouvement des caisses Desjardins and an opening statement of five minutes.